INTRODUCTION: Clinical and experimental study. Individuals with a normal hearing can be jeopardized in adverse communication situations, what negatively interferes with speech clearness. OBJECTIVE: check and compare the performance of normal hearing young adults who have a difficulty in understanding speech during noise or not, by making use of sentences as stimuli. METHOD: 50 normal hearing individuals, 21 of whom were male and 29 were female, aged between 19 and 32, were evaluated and divided into two groups: with and without a clinical complaint about understanding speech during noise. By using Portuguese Sentence Lists test, the Recognition Threshold of Sentences during Noise research was performed, through which the signal-to-noise (SN) ratios were obtained. The contrasting noise was introduced at 65 dB NA. RESULTS: the average values achieved for SN ratios in the left ear, for the group without a complaint and the group with a complaint, were respectively 6. 26 dB and 3. 62 dB. For the left ear, the values were -7. 12 dB and -4. 12 dB. A statistically significant difference was noticed in both right and left ears of the two groups. CONCLUSION: normal hearing individuals showing a clinical complaint about understanding speech at noisy places have more difficulty in the task to recognize sentences during noise, in comparison with the people who do not face such a difficulty. Accordingly, the customary audiologic evaluation must include tests using sentences during a contrasting noise, with a view to evaluating the speech recognition performance more reliably and efficiently.
hearing; speech recognition; speech discrimination tests; noise
